Monaco Historic Grand Prix

Monaco is of course first and foremost known for its Formula 1 Grand Prix. I went to the race a couple of years ago; but haven’t gone since, since I think paying 70 euros for sitting on a muddy slope watching cars (from very far away) go by, without having any idea about who’s winning the race is taking the pi** a bit. And I’m not willing to pay in the neighbourhood of 300 euros for a “proper ticket” either.

This year, however, I was seriously considering getting a ticket for the historic grand prix, though, which takes place a couple of weeks before the real grand prix, figuring it might be a reasonably priced, nice day out. But in the end I decided not to go for it… However, Mathilde actually spotted a notice on the web with somebody giving out two free tickets for the grand prix. After quite a few ifs and buts (we weren’t first in the line for the tickets), we eventually got our paws on them! So after a quick detour to La Gaude Sunday morning, we were set to go.

We arrived about 10:30, having just missed the first race (there were seven races in total, with cars from different eras). What followed was a pretty nice day out, actually. I saw five races altogether (Mathilde had enough after four), with Formula 1 cars dating all the way back to the 1930’s, all the way until the early 70’s… it was pretty interesting watching how the cars have evolved over the years. A bit scary watching the guys race in the really old cars, not a lot of protection there for the driver in case of an accident…

All in all, it was quite a pleasant event, with a very different atmosphere from the actual formula 1 race. Here, the audience was a bit of a mixture of families with young kids, old motor sports enthusiasts, and the “odd curious” bystander like me and Mathilde. All pretty laid back… The races themselves were actually quite exciting, with a lot more overtaking than in “real” formula 1! And the races were actually pretty serious, there were even a couple of accidents (one pretty bad-looking one, where one of the victims got pissed off enough to get out of his car and punch the other guy!). Didn’t know any of the race drivers, but there were a few ex-formula 1 drivers, a formula 3 champion and I think a son or nephew of the legendary, late, Jim Clark.

All in all, then, it was a pretty good day out, and a lot lighter on the wallet than the real race ;-).